Heavy spring rains and snowmelt led to devastating floods along the Mississippi River in May 2011. Landsat 5 flew over the Mississippi River on May 10, 2011, giving a distinct view of the extraordinary extent of the flooding. This was only eigt days after the Army Corps of Engineers began blasting holes in earthen levees near Cairo, Illinois, when the river reached a depth of 61 feet.

The extent of the 2011 flooding is compared with the same locations in April 2010